gfron1

You can buy on Amazon, but you can also just go get your own if you have fruit trees around. Just cut and cure.

Liuzhou reminded me of a guy who brought a date to our place and sat outside in our fenced beer garden. Soon a small group of their mutual friends had gathered to sit with them and they were all enjoying beers except for the guy who was on his date. A bit later, the Domino's delivery driver walked up with a stack of pizzas for the table. I wouldn't have known except one of the gathering group was so embarrassed that they came in and told me what had happened and that he, nor any of his friends were eating the pizza because they knew how poor form this was. The group shortly after took off. Being a small town, my server ran into the guy's date just a few days later and said hi. The woman apologized profusely for the pizzas, and my server found out it was a first date, and the last.

I agree with this, but I would also add the caveat that different woods cause different levels of gunk, and it has more to do with the particles in the smoke that those large enough to be caught in the screen. Even for my Aladin I have replaced their screen and put in one that I chose from the hardware store that suits my needs better.

AT $100 I assume you are talking about the Smoking Gun. I used mine for a year or so and it just got so gunked up that I couldn't use it. I pulled it all apart (not easily) cleaned it, and it worked for another few months until the same thing. All throughout it put out decent smoke, but not great. Also, my hose mount broke off very early on and the stand was never very useful...I have not looked to see if they've upgraded any of this. I then splurged and bought an Aladin smoker from Koerner & Co in New Orleans. Much higher output of smoke. The design minimizes the gunk buildup, and easier to clean. Downside besides price is the batteries are tricky to get in and out, but it pumps out the smoke. Summary - light use, just make your own smoker in the oven. Medium use - Smoking Gun. High use or disposable income - the Aladin.

OK, I mentioned the person who licked our salt candle. We also have one who has repeatedly stabbed it with a knife to break pieces off to use in his food. How about the customer who helped himself into my kitchen during dinner service and pointed at me and said, "I'm going f&%k you right here on your kitchen floor." I, without skipping a beat said, "do I have a say in this?" Backstory that we learned later - he was from 3 hours away in Tucson, on a first-date/blind-date with another guy he met on Grindr (gay sex/dating app for those who don't know). They were going to spend the weekend at a hotel here in town and we were there first stop. Methinks this was bad first-date behavior. Different one - I was using juniper branches to scent a course and they were under a glass plate in a box. a female customer took them and hid them in her purse to take them home. When she realized that my server saw her do it she was very, very embarrassed and my server just said, "We're in the middle of the largest juniper wilderness in the US. We can get more." and winked at her.

You really don't want to open the can of worms where all of us restaurant folks tell you what strange things people do. My latest - we have pink salt candles at dinner and I had a customer lick his. I guess I did want to open that can.

Cool LINK about legal requirements to serve water in Great Britain.

THIS article in Eater today has sparked quite the conversation among my friends. Woman comes in with friends. Friends order, but woman just nurses a water. $3 for the water which was more than her friend's cake. Woman write nasty review and management responds. If we can set aside that the manager handled the situation poorly the question is - does that glass of water have expense/cost? Do the friends make up for the water-customer by their spending? On a related side note, my British friends are saying that there is no such thing as free water in Britain, so there is a cultural nuance that the rest of us should be aware of.

I do think there's some photoshopping going on btw, regardless of how they did it. Just looks fuzzy to me.

I want to ask if it could be option #3. I thought I had heard of people using texture sheets with their magnet molds. I've never done it and not sure how you would seal the bottom, but it theoretically would give you perfect tops and bottoms, cuz even with a good enrober I would expect to see some footing or capping from the smoosh of the texture sheet. I suppose a very thinly textured sheet would work on a strong magnet mold, but that deep frilly one above (which I have) I can't image working. Just a thought.

These are good suggestions. As you saw from her message, that decision is beyond her and me and this point..some mysterious decision maker gets to make the call. I'll pass the ideas along.

The reason I put Modern in is that most foraging cookbooks are casseroles and salads. This is most certainly not that.

Of course heads should roll, but its Keller's restaurant. How he responds is going to be worth watching. What amazes me is in this day and age, that the staff don't know what Wells looks like.

We've been looking at cover art! (They still haven't asked for the manuscript) Fun process. My editor's response today is really interesting as always. They had changed my subtitle from A Modern Cookbook of Field, Forest & Farm to A Modern Cookbook of Field, Forest, Farm & Foraging. I understood why they wanted to highlight foraging, but it doesn't work for me there so I suggested; A Modern Foraging Cookbook of Field, Forest & Farm.

Probably not going to be used but this is a pic we took today of my foraging mentor's feet. He hasn't worn shoes in 20 years.

You can do any nuts, just dictates time and power level, but yes, I haven't toasted a nut in the oven in years and years.

Well, this one won't make it in the book but it was my menu closer for last night's NYE dinner, and the description I shared with the guests:

I didn't even know such a thing existed. Let me guess...not cheap.

Money is still on St. Louis.

I do have local folks who want to invest because they want to keep a restaurant in that space. I'm pushing right now to make sure people know its zoned Historic MultiUse which means, commercial, residential or shared use. If this is something you're really serious about come on over for a visit. BTW, I'll be in PHX Jan 9-11 for vacation and can talk then. We're going to be putting it out in ads nationally pretty soon.

I've not thought of my recipes through that lens yet but my kitchen is so small that my survival revolves around dispersing the workload between the oven, the stove top, etc. Just added Orlando to my tour!

I'm spending my day working on more savory recipes. The book is heavy on pastry right now, so I need to put all of my new stuff on. Just finished my rolled root osso bucco.

I will. Maybe even this morning since I've got a slow day at the restaurant. I've never made them, but they are a family tradition from way back.

a big bottle of great tequila, a goofy book, and my great grandmother's cookie molds

Either works because its at such a low temp, but I do mine uncovered because I like the fats from the rabbit that migrate to the top of the oil to brown, and then when I pick up the rabbit I make sure that skin catches onto the meat which otherwise doesn't have much color.